


Haunts of Yesterday

by i_write_a_lot



Category: Captain America, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Dreams, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Guilt, Hallucinations, Memories of the Past, Minor Character Death, Other - Freeform, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Talking, Team, tiny Winter Soldier spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 07:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1541924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_a_lot/pseuds/i_write_a_lot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky is haunting Steve’s dreams, making it so that he can’t get to sleep…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunts of Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> -I do not own Captain America or The Avengers.
> 
> -Kudos and Comments are appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Sometimes, Steve liked sleep more than the real world.

Sleep was usually peaceful. He wasn’t battling aliens, he wasn’t besieged by tech he didn’t understand, and he definitely didn’t have to live with the fact that he’d out-lived all of his family.

But sometimes, sleep scared him.

Because that’s when he dreamed.

And these days he dreamed only of Bucky.

Bucky, asking why he’d left him behind. Bucky, demanding to know what Steve thought of the future, what Steve was doing with this rag-tag bunch…and Steve would sometimes just stare at him, thinking that Bucky shouldn’t be there, that Bucky was dead…

On one such instance, he’d been in a kind of sleepy daze when Natasha had walked in the living room as he’d tried to keep from falling asleep, but Bucky was there teasing him about the team, and how he’d gotten lazy.

“Steve?” Natasha asked, quietly. 

“Hmmm,” Steve murmured, trying to respond so that he wasn’t being rude, and turned towards her. Bucky was standing in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest, and leaning against the wall. 

“She’s hot, isn’t she? And totally out of your league. At least, old you was anyway. Back when you were small; I seriously doubt she’d be even slightly interested in you,” Bucky taunted, and Steve attempted to ignore him.

“Steve, are you alright?” She asked, sounding concerned. 

“Fine,” He lied, as Bucky was snickering at his obvious pathetic ability to lie. Natasha raised an eyebrow, and he sighed. “Okay, I’m not fine. I’m just…I’m tired,”

He hadn’t meant it to come out in a whine, but it did and there was no taking it back now. Still she didn’t tease him, she didn’t make fun of him. He couldn’t begin to tell her just how grateful he was for her not being cruel, and instead actually seeming to care about his wellbeing. He yawned, and realized that she was talking to him again and tried to pay attention. He found that he was barely keeping awake, however.

“So why not head to bed?” She asked, gently. There was no teasing in her tone, no taunt-she was honestly worried, he realized. And maybe the team was too, because when he got down like this, they almost always sent Natasha. Sometimes-rarely-they sent Tony, but Tony was probably still in his workshop.

“Because then I’d dream,” He mumbled, struggling to hide a yawn.

“Perhaps,” Natasha said thoughtfully, glancing towards where Steve was looking at Bucky. But how could she know what he was looking at. “Then again, maybe if we asked politely whoever it is that’s bothering you will leave you alone long enough to sleep.”

“Fat chance of that,” Bucky said with a snort.

“I don’t think they’ll be amenable to leave me alone,” Steve told her, almost in a whining tone but not quite.

“Who is it?” Natasha asked, looking curious.

“An old war buddy of mine. He died. His name is Bucky,” Steve told her, yawning again. He was so tired, he just wanted sleep.

“I see. And being your friend, he is keeping you awake on purpose?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bucky frowned at that.

“Steve, I don’t mean to keep you awake. I’m only trying to figure out why you left me behind,” He protested. “Why did you let me die?” He added, in a more quiet tone. 

Steve swallowed at that, and Natasha asked, 

“What did he say?”

“He wants to know why I let him die,” Steve muttered, hesitantly.

“You did not let him die,” Natasha said firmly. “You could not save him. You can’t save everyone, despite what the army and so many other people have told you. There will be times when you can’t be the hero that you’ve been made into. Bucky died because it was his time. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not your fault, Steve.” She said, serious.

Bucky seemed to be staring at her, and said slowly, 

“For being a hot babe, you seem really smart. Alright, fine. It wasn’t Cap’s fault, but I still didn’t want to die…but I know it’s not your fault, Cap. I guess…I guess I’ll leave you alone now.” Bucky said, and vanished into thin air.

Steve blinked.

“He left, did he not?” Natasha asked, curiously. 

“…yeah,” Steve said slowly. And then couldn’t help but chuckle. “He called you a hot babe,”

Natasha blinked, and a small smile quirked up, one of the ones that he loved so much about her. She rarely smiled, and he knew she had many different smiles, and this was one of his most favorite.

“Steve, do you think you can sleep now?” She asked, softly.

She didn’t have to ask, because he was already slipping into sleep right there on the couch. He knew he wasn’t going to make it to his room, which was a floor below them. 

Natasha sighed, and said, 

“Jarvis, can you get Stark to come and assist me in putting Steve to bed?”

“I’m sure Mr. Stark will be delighted in seeing the Captain in his underwear, Agent Romanov.” Steve heard Jarvis respond dryly, and that was all he was able to stay awake for before he fell fast asleep, leaning his head against Natasha’s shoulder. 

==  
End


End file.
